Consumers complained to Delaney and Hildreth and the Laconia Police Department that Laconia Loan Services, ostensibly located on Beacon Street West, directed them to wire "large amounts of money through Western Union to addresses in Spain," as part of the process of receiving a loan from the company, which ultimately never materialized.

"We had a couple victims here," Laconia Police Chief Mike Moyer said on Tuesday. "I would just caution that people need to be extremely careful" when responding to some offers on the Internet, "and when someone asks you to wire money, red flags should go up."

Laconia Loan Services is in no way affiliated with Laconia Savings Bank, authorities said.

While the Attorney General's Office and the Banking Commission arranged to have Laconia Loan Service's toll-free telephone number shut down, the business has already obtained another toll-free number, although its website address has been closed down.

Consumers are urged not to do business with Laconia Loan Services or any other Internet loan business without first contacting the Attorney General's Office or the Banking Department.

Moyer confirmed that the address that Laconia Loan Services was using was an actual address in the city and that the property owner there told police about receiving several calls from LLS customers asking about their loans.

One victim of the scam lost $1,200 and "there could be many more (victims)," Moyer said.

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